voracity

American  

[vaw-ras-i-tee, voh-, vuh-] / vɔˈræs ɪ ti, voʊ-, və- /

noun

1. the condition or quality of being voracious.

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Etymology

Origin of voracity

1520–30; < Latin vorācitās, equivalent to vorāc- (stem of vorāx ) gluttonous + -itās -ity

Explanation

Use the noun voracity when you're describing someone's enormous, gluttonous appetite. Some people eat a little and others eat a lot. The ones who eat an extreme amount have the quality of voracity — basically, it means overeating. Sometimes this word refers to literally eating too much, and other times it refers to the desire to overeat. Anyone might eat a couple of hot dogs, but only someone with voracity could eat ten or eleven in one sitting. At the root of voracity is the Latin word vorare, which means "to devour."

Example Sentences

Voracity killed him, as it did Scott's; he died unexpectedly by the kitchen fire.

From A Week's Tramp in Dickens-Land by Hughes, William R. (William Richard)

Even those who take it in a somewhat higher Degree, commonly go out when Eruption is finished, and give themselves up, without Reserve, to the Voracity of their Hunger.

From Advice to the people in general, with regard to their health by Tissot, S. A. D. (Samuel Auguste David)

The law they decree is their ultimate slave; Wherein we perceive old Voracity glassed.

From Poems — Volume 3 by Meredith, George